Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a configuration for depositing recording media, in particular envelopes or letters, which are discharged from a franking and/or addressing machine standing on one edge.
In the case of the franking and/or addressing machines that have been available on the market up until now, the envelopes or letters are transported horizontally and usually after being printed, and, as a result of the kinetic energy that still prevails, pass into a downstream box. The envelopes or letters are deposited one above the other in the box.
Also in the prior art is a franking machine in which the envelopes or letters are transported standing on one edge and butting against a rearwardly inclined guide plate. See German Application Numbers DE 19 605 014 and DE 19 605 015. Proposals have been made for a configuration for depositing envelopes or letters for a franking machine (see German Patent Application DE 197 42 893.2, which has not been previously published), in which an insert is releasably connected to the machine, and the envelopes or letters slide from the insert into a shallow box and are deposited horizontally one above the other. See, for example, FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the insert 2 is angled and includes a front wall 21 and a side wall 22. The two walls 21, 22 are orthogonal with respect to one an other and the side wall 22 is attached to the franking machine 1. The front wall 21 has a channel 211 for the bottom edge of the envelopes or letters in the franking machine 1. The channel 211 slopes down in the transporting direction and adjoins the guide plan e 121. The outlet part of the guide plane 121 is configured, analogously to the channel 211, in a downward slope.
A depositing box 3 formed as an angled part that can be adjusted with respect to the insert 2 is provided in conjunction with the insert 2. The depositing box 3 includes a front wall 31, a side wall 32, and a base plate 33. The walls 31, 32, 33 are disposed orthogonally with respect to one another. As such, the base plate 33 serves as a carrier for the envelopes or letters deposited. The front wall 31 is guided adjustably in an adapted slit 212 of the front wall 21 of the insert 2. The side wall 32 is configured as a resilient deflecting wall and is disposed orthogonally with respect to the envelope-transporting direction and at an adjustable distance downstream of the channel 211. The distance is usually selected to be somewhat greater than the largest envelope or letter format that is to be processed.
Because the envelope or letter stack also acts as a tipping edge, the FIG. 1 configuration achieves a stacking height corresponding approximately to half the height of the smallest envelope or letter format and/or the height of the central part of the channel 211.
Furthermore, proposals have been made for applying an apparatus for transferring envelopes or letters to a downstream depositing apparatus of the type described immediately above to the first above-mentioned franking machine. See German Patent Number 198 40 917 C1 and FIGS. 2 and 2a. In FIGS. 2 and 2a, a driven transporting roller 14 is provided in a franking machine 1 immediately downstream of the transporting belt 12 in an envelope-transporting direction and at the same height as the transporting belt 12. The circumferential speed of the transporting roller 14 is adjusted to be higher than the speed of the transporting belt 12. The sliding surface 121 following the transporting roller 14 for the bottom edge of the envelopes or letters is at a lower level and has a sliding configuration. The inclination and shape of the sliding surface 121 and the initial region 2111 of channel 211 are adapted to one another.
In the above-described examples, there is a risk that newly closed envelopes deposited spring open, particularly when thick envelopes or letters are deposited. Furthermore, the stack itself limits the stacking height.